Mixtapes of the Month: April 2013

Mixtapes of the Month

There was a time when mixtapes were loose collections of songs not good enough to make an album. Those days are over. In 2013, an age where artists recognize that the road to stardom is paved with free music, mixtapes have become full, original bodies of music in their own right.

But all that free music also means discovering something truly worth your time can be harder than finding a needle in a digital haystack. That’s where our friends at DJBooth.net come in. Their new “Mixtapes of the Month” series will narrow down the previous 30 days (give or take) down to three projects guaranteed to ensure the month’s best work doesn’t pass you by.

So without further ado, here are three new ones for your tape deck, desktop or iPhone.

1. Big K.R.I.T., King Remembered in Time

Both on the mic and producing, Big K.R.I.T.’s blend of Southern party music and fearlessly honest jams have earned him a steadily growing fan base, and a deal with Def Jam. His latest work, King Remembered in Time, is everything we could have hoped for, from the anthemic “Shine On” featuring Bun B to the purely soulful “Life is a Gamble,” produced by the legendary 9th Wonder.

2. Sid Sriram, West Coast Nightfall Part 1: Before Dusk

In a sea of R&B filled with wave after wave of party jam, the success of Frank Ocean and Miguel has opened up a lane once again for classic, organic R&B. Sid Sriram’s determined to walk down that lane. A Bay Area native who first earned attention through powerful YouTube covers (his version of Ocean’s “We All Try” is a must-listen), on West Coast Nightfall Part 1 Sriram proves that he’s also an original voice with something to say.

“Winter Mind”, “Anymore”, these are the kinds of songs anyone with a functioning soul should be able to connect too. It feels good to have that classic R&B sound back.

3. Peter Rosenberg, The New York Renaissance

Over the last decade or so it’d become fashionable to say that New York City hip-hop was, if not dead, then on life support: comatose, stagnated, stuck in the past. But a new generation of NYC artists are determined to focus on the city’s future, without forgetting its past, and the result is a full-fledged Renaissance.

Who better to serve as our tour guide through the Renaissance than Hot 97 DJ and tireless hip-hop advocate Peter Rosenberg? By collecting fresh, original music from some of the city’s best new names, including ASAP Rocky, Action Bronson and more, Rosenberg proves that the birthplace of hip-hop is still turning out classic material in 2013.